Remove ‘Category’ from WordPress URL

In WordPress, we have categories to arrange and organize our posts. When you open or view one of the categories, you’ll notice a word ‘category‘ in the URL of that page. This keyword can be changed or removed by using the WordPress Permalink settings.

Permalink settings in WordPress

This category base can be change and you can therefore remove the keyword ‘category’ from your URL. Just follow these simple steps :-

1. Go to WordPress Dashboard -> Settings -> Permalinks

2. In the Custom Structure, type ‘/%category%/%postname%/‘

3. Now in the Category Base, type ‘/‘ or ‘.’

If you ‘/’, you’ll notice that the keyword ‘category’ is still not removed from the urls throughout your website, but, if you remove the keyword yourself, the url will still work. In other words,

http://yourwebsite.com/category/hello/ or http://yourwebsite.com/hello/ both will work

If you use ‘.’, you’ll notice that the keyword ‘category’ is permanently gone from the URL. The problem with this method is that, in case of sub-categories or even parent/single categories, the website gives you a 404 error. So, try this on your own risk. In other words,

http://yourwebsite.com/hello/ will work

4. Save the settings.

5. Voila

You can also use the plugin Remove Category URL, which works really smoothly without making any permalink changes.